How Expensive Are Toronto’s Fast Food, Street Food, and Restaurants?

My Last Video on Food Prices

I recently did a video on restaurant menu prices, fast food and street food prices in Toronto. You can watch this video by clicking the link on the top left of this article. What’s striking is that even after being a world-class city that ranks higher in various different global ratings, including one of the top ten cities most liveable on earth, Toronto’s food prices are still affordable and cheaper than those other most liveable cities.

In Toronto, you will find a Big Mac at McDonald’s at $5.49 Cad ($4.35 USD) and french fries at $1.49 Cad ($1.15 USD). At Subway, daily deals are $4.00 Cad ($3.19 USD) a sandwich and an Italian Hero Panini is $4.99 Cad ($4 USD).

A slightly upscale fast food chain called Hero Certified Burgers serves beef burger combo made without hormones & antibiotics for $17 Cad ($13.50 USD) that includes 2 4 oz. burgers, 2 ultimate fries and 2 drinks.

Chinese restaurants serving combos between $8 - $10 Cad ($6.35 - $8 USD), which are more than enough for one person and even 2 people can survive on it if you order another extra item a la carte.

Dining at an upscale restaurant (not super upscale) would cost $30 - $50 Cad ($24 - $40 USD) per person, which is still very cheap and reasonable. Similar dishes in another world-class city that’s on the top ten list would easily cost $80 - $100 Cad ($65 - $80 USD) per person.

The video has a variety of example items that you can watch and you can subscribe to my channel by going to my home page here: www.youtube.com/adawn

Why We Don’t Invest?

Invest Now: A Canadian's Guide to Investing ,by Dawn, A. ( 2008 ) Paperback

Why You Should Invest

Our main problem is a lack of information. Most Canadians were never taught any personal-finance lessons in school and in university. Also, we have this idea that in order to invest, we need a lot of money, a PhD, and status as an investment guru. Invest Now shows you how you can start investing with very little money—and even less expertise. Investing can be as simple as walking into a bank or picking up your phone.

First Published: ADawnJournal.com Mar 27, 2008

Award-winning book Invest Now is jam-packed with timely information and timeless advice for the beginning Canadian investor. To purchase a copy, visit Chapters Indigo or buy online - Invest Now: A Canadian's Guide to Investing

What to Do When Hackers Hack Your Websites

Tips to Deal with Blog or Website Ad Codes from Hacking

Recently, I had my first incidence of one of my sites being hacked by online intruder. Nothing can beat the learning that comes from experience – that’s why I have decided to share my experience with you today. Also, I will describe a few steps you all should consider to better tackle this type of situation.

About two weeks ago, I opened one of my sites in my browser and found out that the top widgets on the right column had disappeared. Also, the whole site looked disheveled - it was like someone had played around and tampered with the site’s programming codes.

My programmer was able to fix everything in time. But then, he gave me a valuable tip which I have never thought of. He mentioned that hackers usually hack sites to implement their own ad codes. So instead of the site owner, these high-tech thieves make money. If you are an Internet entrepreneur, you know that all ad codes such as Google Adsense, Infolinks, Chitika, etc. run on your site because of a few line ad scripts or html codes. The only thing makes these codes identifiable for the individual is a numeric value such as 54890245 or something like it. Now, if someone hacked your site and implemented their own codes replacing yours – it’s almost impossible to know by looking at it. We usually never check and match these numeric values assigned to each individual.

So, hacking your codes could go unnoticed for many months until one day you think: wait a minute, how come I have never made money in the past 2 months? What precautions should you take if your site gets hacked or even if it did not get hacked but you just want to be safe?
Follow these simple tips:

- Always backup your site
- If your site gets hacked, change your password ASAP
- Go through all ad codes to make sure they are indeed your codes, install fresh codes if necessary
- Always keep an eye on your revenue. If you see a sharp drop in income or no income at all, it means your site  
  has been compromised.
- It is a good idea to change your password periodically. 
- Do not use the same password for your ad accounts, email, and other programs. If hackers get thru your site,
  they will have access to everything
- Do not make your password too easy to guess
- Your programmer, editor, virtual assistant … should be someone you can trust. For example, I have been with
  my team of experts for a few years now and I trust them all, as they are very trust worthy.
- Always take precautions and be vigilant. Use your common sense and let it be your guideline.
First Published: EntrepreneurJourney.com Apr 3, 2010

Banks Are Charging Ridiculous NSF Fees

Bank Has No Limits for Fees

Just received a Notice of Changes flyer in my mailbox from TD Bank. The flyer is full of as usual information. That is, fees are going up on some services. One fee increase made my eyes pop out in wonder.

New NSF (Non Sufficient Funds) fee will be $42.50 starting May 1, 2008. Paying $42.50 NSF fee is way too much and absolutely ridiculous. We all know that banks are only interested in making money, and they don’t care about their customers. Average bank clients are not valued or respected by these banks. We tend to be loyal to our banks, and they are taking advantage of this. Most of us do not research and shop for a better bank. What you can do to get a better deal and treated as a valued customer by your bank? Follow these simple tips below:

• Banks basically measure your value by looking at your bank balance. If you have accounts with many banks, you may want to think about consolidate them into one account in one bank. This will give you more money in one bank and hence more value.
   
• Have an overdraft protection attached to your bank account. An overdraft protection will protect you from NSF situation because this feature will pay extra money if your account falls short. There is a charge involved with this option but it’s not as ridiculous as NSF fee.
   
• A decent overdraft protection fee should be somewhere around $5. You should pay this only when you use it. If your bank charges monthly recurring fees to have this option, change your bank. A good example is President Choice Financial. Their overdraft protection fee is $4.95, and you pay only when you use it. You will also be paying an interest charge on overdraft balances but still it’s a lot better than paying $42.50.

• And last but not least - never write a cheque if you don't have money in your account (I know you all know this).
  First Published: ADawnJournal.com Mar 16, 2008

Entrepreneurs Just Need An Idea To Become Successful

Let your sharp mind see new income making opportunities

More than ever before we live in a generation that has so many opportunities of making money just staring at all of us, yet very few people gat to discover them at all. The reason could be that most of the time they come disguised as just some little extra work. With the economic crunch that has come upon the whole world, the issue may not necessarily be making extra income, for most people it is making any income at all. With the fluid job marker no one is safe any longer. Just thinking a little out of the box is that makes up the entrepreneurial spirit that will survive our times.

The difficulty that many people will have is thinking that everything that could be dome for money has already been discovered and nothing new can be coming along. Just a little scratching of your head will lead anyone to seeing needs of people that are usually disguised as complaints, and if you can discover a way of solving that then you are going to be paid for it, and isn’t that what business really is all about? Ideas and fresh ideas are what you need and lack of money will not be an issue at all for you.

And of course like we have said there is no shortage of fresh ideas out there. The idea you ignore today becomes what makes someone else a millionaire tomorrow. Who, for example, thought the current list of young internet millionaires would reap millions by just harnessing the power of the internet? You can try anything from garage sales and it will simply surprise you the things that people will be willing to buy from you. And you do not need to look for an office outside your home. Did you take advantage of online auctions such as eBay and sell stuff out there and just make money?

If you lack money today it would simply be because you have not trained your mind to see opportunities and take advantage of them. Take something like clutter management for example, do you know anyone who occupies a house or office that could do with just a little rearrangement o make life more comfortable? Then there you are with a business known as clutter management. You do not know the number of people who are willing to pay anyone who can help them arrange their homes and offices so that they know where to get any stuff they require.

And still at the home front you may want to consider the niche of healthy foods that have become the fad today. There many busy folk who know they need to eat healthy and they do not know where and how. Several people have turned their little kitchen skills into a money minting idea simply preparing and delivering whole meals to some lazy fold out there who have a phobia for their kitchens, or simply do not know what to do to turn their ideas into healthy meals. It is simply time to transform your ideas into money before someone else beats you at the game.
First Published: EntrepreneurJourney.com Dec 4, 2009